Blue Elephant - Thai Food

Located just beside the marina, the restaurant is full of Thai settings. You will see many prominent elephants, the significant Thai pointed roof structure, and many more. The layout and decor of the place is simply amazing. Every corner of it has a different look. There is a small gift shop and bar counter near the entrance, where you could even get Blue Elephant cookbook and some Thai souvenirs.

Blue Elephant: This is the corner where we were sitting

The menu is super long, has plenty of dishes and quite a few comes with 3 chilli symbol, meaning it is going to be real spicy. 


Starter:

We started off with Thai fish cake, Golden bags and Chicken Satay.

Blue Elephant: Left is Thai Fish cake, Right is Chicken Satay and Top is Golden bag

 
Thai fish cake was really good. It tasted so similar to the ones we had in Singapore. Try it with and without the dipping sauce. I preferred to have it with dipping sauce, as it added a refreshing taste to it. This dish is a little spicy.

Chicken Satay was alright, nothing fantastic to my preference. I prefer the Singapore style satay instead. The gravy that was on top of it was a bit too much to my liking. You could go with peanut sauce for dipping. This dish is not spicy at all. For Singapore style, satay is usually dry without gravy on it, and goes with a spicy peanut chilli mix dipping sauce.

Golden bags was great. The filling was really generous, and it really made the difference. Every bite was fulfilling. If I remember correctly, the filling was minced chicken. Do double check on the menu though. It goes really well with the sweet and sour dipping sauce.

Blue Elephant: Tom Yum Khoong

Next we had the killer, Tom Yum Khoong. This dish was real spicy. Remember that we are Asian, and we do find it spicy. I saw many tables around me who ordered the dish, had problem finishing the dish or you could hear them making some noise with their tongue as it was too spicy for them! However, try asking them to make it less spicy if you really can't take it. This is a must order dish when it comes to Thai food.


Main Course:

Blue Elephant: Fish

Elson had the fish, which I think it was sea bass. He mentioned that it was overcooked, and wasn't quite liking the taste of it though. We would give it a miss the next time.

Blue Elephant: Fried Rice

Fried Rice is like a comfort food for us. It is so common in Singapore, that almost every place you go to, will be able to produce decent fried rice. This fried rice we had at Blue Elephant was pretty good. The taste was very Asian, just like what we had in Singapore. Total comfort food for us! This is non spicy as well.

Blue Elephant: Green Chicken Curry

 

Green Curry is a very typical Thai dish. This dish is not too spicy, just a little. However, I found it too strong in taste for me. There was an overdose of coconut milk in there and made it too thick. I would probably try the red curry next time instead.

Blue Elephant: Fried Vermicelli

Blue Elephant has a vegetarian menu as well. The dishes are mainly the same, but they made it vegetarian. This fried vermicelli is from the vegetarian menu. I was a little disappointed with the dish when it arrived. When I read the description on the menu, I was expecting Fried Tofu with some Vermicelli and vegetables. But it turned out otherwise. Apparently, vermicelli is the main ingredient and not tofu. In fact, tofu was cut into such small pieces that I nearly missed it. However, this dish still taste quite good to me, a meat eater. This is a non-spicy dish.


Dessert:

Blue Elephant: Coconut custard with Mango ice-cream

They have quite a list of interesting desserts. We decided to go for the coconut custard with mango ice-cream. It was AMAZING! The coconut custard was so smooth and not too strong in taste. Mango ice-cream was brilliant with real mangoes inside. Highly recommended!


Overall, our experience at Blue Elephant was wonderful. Service was great there. They were very attentive and even willing to alter their spiciness level to suit. I would definitely go back again.

Zen Japanese Sushi and Teppanyaki

Zen is one of the few Japanese restaurants in Malta. It is located at the Portomaso Marina, which means a high-end restaurant. Their main chef is a Japanese, with a few Japanese waitress as well. This is not our first visit there, but we always forgot about the photos the moment we saw the food.

They have created a very Japanese layout with sushi bar counter seats, normal table seatings, and teppanyaki area. I like the ambience, which gives you a really ZEN and peaceful feeling. If you are able to get a table by the window, you got a marina view. That is awesome dinner with a view!

If you are a Japanese or someone who know what exactly you want to order or how you want it done, you can talk to the chef directly and get it prepared your way. Our Japanese guest liked this place very much too.


Starter:

We started off with handrolls, sushi and softshell crabs.

Zen Japanese Malta

I had the Unagi handroll and Prawn tempura handroll, while Elson had the Tuna belly sushi and Unagi sushi. Their unagi was really good. Nothing seems to go wrong with unagi. I do not quite fancy the prawn tempura handroll though. It was a little bland for me. Tuna belly sushi was so fresh and melts in your mouth.

If you are a sashimi person, do try their sashimi and beef carpaccio. We tried that the previous time, it was so good.

Zen Japanese Malta: Soft Shell Crab

 
Soft shell crab was good too. Their crab is quite meaty, i could taste quite a bit of crab meat inside. Although it was fried, it was crispy outside but moist and tender inside. I like this dish. 

Zen Japanese Malta: Chicken Terayaki Maki

Due to the fact that I cannot eat raw food at the moment, I chose chicken Terayaki Maki out of my normal choices. Amazingly, it was good. The chicken was so tender that I finished it in seconds. This is a good choice for people who doesn't enjoy raw fish.


For the main course, we had Pork Katsu Don and Tempura Soba. Sadly, we forgot about the picture again. Pork Katsu Don was pretty normal, nothing fantastic about it. Given a choice, I would not order that again, and would rather go for more sushi. I had mixed feeling towards Tempura Soba though. Their Soba in soup was really good, but I didn't quite like the tempura that day.


They have a separate menu for teppanyaki, so do ask for it if you are interested. In their main menu, their choices are mainly sushi, handrolls, sashimi, and more starters. Their choice of noodles or rice dishes are pretty limited. My suggestion will be to go with the main choices and leave out the rice and noodles, unless you really want it.

What to eat at Malta Airport?

Whenever we go to the airport for a flight, we will definitely have a meal there. Not that there is superb food, it is just a habit. Apart from this place that I am going to share here, there are KFC and Burger King at the airport for quick meal too.

Fat Harry's look like a bar but they do serve decent food too. Do take into consideration the amount of time you have while waiting for boarding, as food takes time to be cooked there.

Today we tried the steak and Guinness beef stew.

The Guinness Beef Stew was awesome. It was thick with a hint of the Guinness taste. Beef cooked to ultimate tenderness. I love it.

As for the medium done steak, I find that it was too dry. There wasn't any sauce to go with, except the sautéed mushroom. I think a little sauce will be better. The sautéed mushroom was good though, but not good enough for me to order this again.

Do share with me your experience there too.

Ir-Rokna - Had your pizza already?

It looked neither posh nor special, but the food was really good! Located in Portomaso, a restaurant I passed by more than a dozen times but did not enter until this day. A friend took me there, telling me their pizza is a must try.

Walking into the restaurant, the setting were typical type, nothing special. As I walked a few more steps, I saw the see through kitchen where the wood fired pizza oven is. There were limited tables on the first floor, but I think there are more upstairs as I saw a stairs near the entrance.

It was just a casual lunch, so we only ordered a calamari to share and a main course each.

Calamari

 
Calamari was decent, nothing fantastic or special. I love seafood so I will definitely order again next time.

Seafood pasta

 

Seafood pasta was nice. This is the starter portion though, which is already a lot to me. They were rather generous in their seafood, which makes me want to go back more. I am already drooling now writing about it.

Carbonara

This carbonara was rather creamy. Do try it if you love cream based pasta. It tasted really good. The flavour was just right. Personally, I will share this with someone if I am ordering it again, as I find it too rich for me.

Patrizio pizza

The pizza was good, way better than the one I last tried at Mama Mia. The dough texture was really good, not dry or too hard. The dough tasted different from the few I tried before. It was thin in the middle and slightly thicker at the edge. It was stated in the menu to be more salty and spicy, but I found it just right. In fact, I did not taste any spiciness as all. As for saltiness, it was understood as it had salami and pepperonias part of the toppings. The cheese was nicely melted that even after 10 minutes of eating, I was still pulling the cheese. I am not a cheese appreciator, so I can't really tell what cheese they are using.


Overall, it was a great meal with great company. We skipped dessert there, and went over to cafe Portomaso for some ice cream instead.

I am definitely going again with Elson.

Santa Lucia - a slice of cake and coffee, the traditional way

A friend brought me to Santa Lucia, after seeing the amount of liking I have for traditional cafe and desserts. It is situated in the Attard. We went there for late lunch, which was a good choice as there was lesser crowd and easy parking. I was told they serve good lunch too. I will update on that after trying next time.

I had smoked salmon salad for lunch, in order to keep some space for the dessert. It has a traditional, simple yet cosy feeling when you enter. I see people in and out, having cakes and coffee, and buying cakes for takeaways. Just looking at the dessert in the fridge, I wish I can have everything there! I am not a big fan of cakes with lots of cream, Santa Lucia's cakes meet my preference totally!

Our final choices are:

Red Velvet

Chocolate Fudge

Look at how moist and spongy the cake was. All the 3 cakes were awesome! I am definitely going back for more.

Caffe Luna (Lunch) - Food Review

A gem is hidden behind this normal looking door in Naxxar, next to the church. The doors makes you think that a small cafe or restaurant is what it leads to. The thought change immediately the moment you open the door and take your first step in. An elegant hallway appears in front of your eyes. As you walk on, a door of sunlight shines through, attracting you to walk towards it. It is another heaven of elegance. A big beautiful garden, with a patio and fountain, stands in front of you.

We went straight to Caffe Luna on the right for our lunch. It was posh and classy. We took an outdoor seat to absorb the beauty of the garden. If you walk on, there will be another garden waiting for you to explore, which we will leave it till next visit.

We thought we were early, reaching at 1130am for lunch. To our surprise, there were quite a crowd there, which I found out later that they were having breakfast. Browsing through the menu, we decided to go for Foie Gras Risotto and Special Club Sandwich, along with hot chocolate and americano.

The bread which was served while waiting for our food, were really good. They were soft and moist. I would say the Hot Chocolate was the best I had tasted in Malta so far.

Foie Gras Risotto was really rich and creamy. Personally, I find it too rich for me. It tasted fantastic though. I would suggest to share if you would like to try.

Special Club Sandwich comes with bacon, egg, and chicken breast, along with chips at the side. It was tasty. The dressing were added to the right proportion, to avoid sandwich being too dry. I find the portion too big for me, where I only managed to finish half of it.

I will be heading back to check out the garden and their high tea in 2 weeks' time.


Address:
Palazzo Parisio
Victory Square, Naxxar
www.palazzoparisio.com

Tana Del Lupo - Food Review

This wasn't a planned trip to try out their food. We were heading home to prepare dinner. As I was turning on the tap to wash my hands, the water flow got lesser and gone in 5 seconds. I was shocked. I knew electricity cut often here, but didn't know about water. I went on to check the other taps in the bathroom, they were still flowing as they run from the water tanks. After few more tries at the kitchen sink, we decided that we should go out for dinner.

Elson drove me to Paceville area, refusing to tell me where we were going. He even tricked me to believed that we were going to the other neighboring restaurants but walking in, then out. Finally we arrived here at 6.55pm. They only start dinner service at 7pm. But the lady was nice enough to let us in earlier.

As we walked through the doors, the decor gave a rustic feeling. Tables and chairs were mainly wooden. You will see antiques decor items around. It was quite a big restaurant. After asking the waitress, this is an Sicilian restaurant. So I guess it was decorated accordingly. I will know after I visit Sicily this coming November. So excited about the upcoming trip.

The service there was great. We were greeted with big smiles, and provided with good recommendations. Their seafood of the day was Sea Dates and Tuna. So we chose Sea Dates Linguine and Grilled Tuna as main course, and mixed seafood platter as starter to share.

Starter mixed seafood platter

It comes with grilled calamari, squid, fish cake, smoked salmon, and grilled prawn. The fish cake was really fresh and tasty, filled generously with anchovies. Grilled prawns were fantastic, very fresh too. I think it was seasoned with salt and grill. I tried peeling the shell off for the first one, and gave up. I think it was meant to eat with the shells. It tasted better with shells where the seasoning was. Smoked salmon was alright, nothing fantastic. Fried calamari was good, however I think it could be a little saltier. Lastly, we didn't quite like the squid.

Main course grilled tuna and sea dates pasta

I tried quite a number of grilled tuna at other restaurants, I felt that this was just average. I asked for medium rare, which meant that the middle part should be raw. It did come that way but wasn't as good as other places that I have tried. Still worth a try though. Grilled tuna comes with sides, fried potatoes and fresh vegetables. The fried potatoes was good, salt were added to the right proportion.

Sea dates pasta was something we didn't try before. We were told that this particular shelled seafood was named sea dates because it literally looked like dates. It was cooked in aglio olio style. It was good but not WOW type. I personally find that the pasta doesn't have much taste, but the sea dates tasted great.

It was a simple dinner on a Thursday night, so we decided to skip dessert and concluded the meal.

Overall verdict good, without the "WOW" factor.

I don't think we will go back to try other dishes there anytime soon. But if you want to try something different, you could give it a try. Total bill was around 57Euros, which I think was alright given that I had 2 big pieces of tuna as main. They do served big portion.



Address:

Tana Del Lupo

58 Wilga Street, Paceville

Fumia Restaurant - Food review

It was our anniversary, and Elson decided to bring me to Fumia Restaurant. He had been raving about the big oysters there, and how good the food is. I went on to do a google search on this restaurant, and was amazed to find many fantastic reviews about it. I was having high expectation before I even stepped in.


Ambience:
It looked normal, nothing fantastic from the outside.

BUT, the moment I stepped in...

I was totally blown away by the setting of the place. It has such interesting structure. From the steps that I took to walk into the restaurant to the moment I saw the interior, I felt like I had walked into a cave. The lightnings made the place feel so cosy. The spaces between each table gave you personal space and a comforting feeling. I took a good 10 minutes enjoying the ambience and the structure.

We reserved for an early dinner, 7.45pm. Their dinner time only starts 7.30pm. The restaurant was relatively empty when we stepped in. There was a corner where all the fishes, oysters and lobsters were displayed on ice, allowing customers to choose.

Service was fantastic, everyone wore a smile, gave you ample time to enjoy the moment and look at the menu, stepping forward at the right moment to take your order. They know their fish and wine well, advise well when you over-order.

Starter #1: Fresh oysters!

Look at how big the oyster is. Super delicious and fresh. Savoring every mouth of it. Fills my whole mouth with no space left to talk.

Starter #2: Fish Soup

We ordered one portion to share. The staff there were so nice to half the portion into 2 separate bowls for us.Very nice thick soup, can really taste the freshness and the fish.

Starter #3: Grilled Tuna with salt n pepper

This is actually a main course, but we requested them to do a starter portion for us. It was so so so good, I can't help but cut it into smaller pieces, and enjoy each bite slowly. It was cooked perfectly, just cooked, not over not under.

Main Course: Spaghetti with Lobster

We chose our own lobster, which weigh about 450g. I forgot to take a picture of the raw lobster though. Very well cooked pasta but doesn't give me the "Wow" feeling. It was then, that Elson mentioned "oh I think I remembered wrongly, the good lobster pasta is at Sciacca!" Oh well, it is good still. He just gave me another excuse to go to Sciacca! :)

Dessert: Banoffee Pie

Dessert is termed as Sweets here. Do ask for recommendation if you prefer something else, as some Sweets are not put down in the menu.

Banoffee Pie was real good. That was the first time I tried this. Usually the moment I saw cream on anything, I will shut off immediately. But the cream was light and went well with the rest. As a person who doesn't like cream, I gobbled down everything. It definitely completed my dinner well!




Overall Verdict:

It was a fantastic meal. Their food was so good that I had to slow down and savor every single bite. Ambience and settings of the place was so cosy and made you felt very comfortable throughout the meal. Service was excellent.I find that the pricing was reasonable, given that we had oysters and lobster.

The bill came up to about 100Euros with no wine, Oysters at 3Euros each, Tuna and Fish soup both at 6Euros each. I can't really remember the price of the Lobster Spaghetti as it was priced by weight. Their usual pasta would be around 12Euros. I definitely will be back for more, and would like to try their steam fish.


Address:
Fumia Restaurant
Valletta, 72 old bakery road.